Have you ever listened to a piece of music and thought to yourself: “Wow, this is good music. I can listen to this for days and not get tired of it!”?
We all have that one song that we can put on a loop overnight, fall asleep, wake up, and continue to enjoy it as if we haven’t already heard it for the last 8 hours.
But there must be a reason why we find that song so good, right?
With over 100,00 tracks being produced every single day, there must be a criteria that makes some of them stand out and perk our ears.
What, then, is this magical sauce?
Subjectively good music
Everyone knows that good music is subjective, and varies from person to person.
Some people may find heavy metal to be their piece of the cake, whereas others will listen to the first few bars and immediately shut the music off.
It would be ignorant for us to say that music is good because of a certain characteristic, like having explosive choruses, or heart-wrenching lyrics.
These aspects of the music may cater to some people but not all people.
When you hear groups of people fighting over their favorite songs, the argument may never end, because they are trying to push their personal preferences onto others.
If music is so subjective, then maybe that is the first secret—not all music is for everyone.
Understanding this is so powerful because instead of nitpicking every part of your song to appease everyone, you can continue creating for self-expression.
And there is a reason why everyone has customized musical tastes.
Your musical upbringing determines good music
Do you remember what songs you listened to when you were just a wee little kid?
Maybe you heard music emanating from a radio, or your mum’s soothing voice while she tucked you to bed.
When were were younger, our first interaction with music will leave a huge mark on our musical taste as we grow into adulthood.
We know that people can master a skill extremely well if they start from a young age, thanks to neural plasticity. We were the most impressionable then.
Similarly, the music we absorbed as kids will also be programmed into our being and shape our preferences, forming natural biases to music of similar characteristics.
That is not to say that you will not pick up a drastically different genre of music, as I listen to both Classical and Pop music. Again, this is down to how your preferences are formed over time.
And this is the second secret to good music – your upbringing greatly affects your music taste.
A personal recount
I remember sitting in the front seat of my dad’s Toyota sedan, cruising along the Malaysian causeway as we headed to our maternal grandparent’s place in Kampar, Malaysia.
Traveling from our home country, Singapore, the 4 of us (my dad, mum, younger brother, and myself) spent more than 6 hours with our butts glued to the leather seats while we impatiently waited for the trip to end.
We had nothing much to do in the car: no handheld games, mobile phones, and books.
The only things that accompanied us throughout the journey were the passing scenery and the car’s entertainment system, which consisted of a radio and CD player.
Radio was useless, as we couldn’t understand an ounce of the Malay language other than our mum. Therefore, the CD player was the only salvation.
Music from the ’70s and ’80s was played on repeat for 6 hours.
As we sat and listened, the music started to grow on me. Even though the music belonged to an era before my conception, the presence of my parents kept them alive and in my bloodstream.
I went on these trips a few times, at least once a year for Chinese New Year, and these songs would be in and out of rotation. They slowly started to solidify and calcify in my mind.
After a while, I started to hear them in shopping malls, eateries, and even the local radio (in the language that I understand, of course). They grabbed my attention like a rock climber grabbing the next stone.
In school, I was secretly proud to recognize the tunes while my friends only knew up-and-coming songs from Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift.
Now that I am a full-grown adult, the Oldies are still goldies to me, and I find myself jamming out hard on the keyboard whenever the band decides to recreate songs like I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor.
What is your story?
I hope you can resonate with this story I have shared with you.
Now it is your turn to look back at your story and find clues as to why you love certain types of music or genre.
Can you draw any links from the music that you first heard when you were young to the music you listen to today?
Share them with us in the comments below!